FOOTBALL MAN OF SUBSTANCE

Kinnear’s legacy shouldn’t be defined by his notorious foul-mouthed rant at journos during his time at Newcastle

RARELY had a request to interview a leading football manager been accepted with such haste and it didn’t take long for Joe Kinnear to reveal he had an ulterior motive when he invited the Sunday World into his office at Luton Town FC in late 2002.

The friendliness of the welcome and the cup of tea that was offered up to me was a prelude to what quickly became a scene that he hoped would change the destiny of the Ireland national team.

Kinnear wanted to succeed Mick McCarthy as Ireland manager and he was using this media appearance to outline his vision for what he would bring to the role.

The former Tottenham and Ireland defender didn’t take long to unveil a masterplan that he had clearly spent some time devising before his youthful interviewer sat down for what became his audition for the FAI’s top job.

Dublin-born Kinnear, the footballer, was an under-rated performer who won the FA Cup, two League Cup winners’ medals and the Uefa Cup during his days at Tottenham.

Then he cemented his legacy in the game as a manager as he became a stabilising voice amid the madness that was Wimbledon’s Crazy Gang.

Kinnear was named League Manager’s Association boss of the year after he guided Wimbledon to a sixth-place finish in the Premier League in the 1993/94 season.

A ninth-place finish the following season continued the momentum, with a team featuring the intimidating Vinnie Jones, classy midfielder Robbie Earle and the combustible strikers John Fashanu and Dean Holdsworth proving to be a handful for every opponent.

Kinnear’s time at Wimbledon effectively ended when he suffered a heart attack prior to a game at Sheffield Wednesday in March 1999.

Yet the fire was back in his voice when he used an interview with this newspaper to lay out his vision for the future of an Ireland team ready to kick-off after a missed opportunity at the 2002 World Cup finals.

RUMOUR

As was the case with the current search for an Ireland manager, rumour and counter rumour suggested a few names were in the frame to replace McCarthy.

The FAI had employed former Northern Ireland manager Bryan Hamilton as a ‘headhunter’ to find the next Republic boss and Kinnear told me that he had rejected the chance to be interviewed for the job.

“He (Hamilton) asked me if I would go on a shortlist and be interviewed along with seven or eight other people and I said no,” declared Kinnear, with Hamilton later disputing his version of events.

“If they don’t know what I’m capable of doing, why interview me?

“I’ve done enough in my life. If they want to give me the job, they can, but I don’t do interviews.”

This was not the first time Kinnear had flirted with the idea of becoming Ireland manager, with his name firmly in the frame to replace Jack Charlton when his glorious era came to an end in 1996.

That may have been the prime moment for the FAI to recruit a manager who was at the peak of his powers in the mid-1990s, yet it was clear that he was eager to get back in the mix when the Ireland job came up for grabs again.

We spoke about his ambitions to get Roy Keane back into the international fold after his infamous Saipan bust-up with McCarthy the previous summer.

In typical fashion, he argued his charm would resolve the matter swiftly.

Kinnear claimed he could get the exiled Manchester United man back into the Ireland fold in a ‘very quick conversation’, with the confidence that shone through in a chat that lasted over an hour the abiding memory of the meeting.

This was less of an interview with an aspiring football writer and more a football man trying to use his presence to land a role he desperately wanted.

Kinnear’s passion for Ireland could not be disguised by his gruff cockney accent and, while he may have appeared to be an abrasive personality for those who didn’t know him, the real Joe was much more affable.

CRAZINESS

The reporters who were covering Wimbledon when Kinnear was controlling the craziness speak of a character who was charming and helpful, especially to young journalists learning their trade and hoping to catch a word or two in the club’s training ground car park.

Latterly, Kinnear became synonymous with a foulmouthed 2008 rant at a collection of reporters who had infuriated him during his explosive spell as Newcastle manager.

The level of venom he displayed in that verbal blast shocked many, but not those who were familiar with the industrial language that was the norm for this colourful character.

Kinnear knew how to play the publicity game in an era when the rules of engagement were different, with his language very much suited to an earlier chapter in the PC handbook.

While his brashness may have been seen as arrogance by some, he would argue his achievements as a player and manager gave him a right to believe in his abilities.

Joe’s passing last Sunday instantly saw a media pack now obsessed with clicks highlighting Kinnear’s love of a swear word and that press briefing in Newcastle as his greatest legacy.

Yet this emotional character who was deeply affected by the tragically early loss of his beloved son Elliott due to cancer, when he was aged 40, deserves to be celebrated for so much more than one infamously vulgar press bust-up.

He was a fine Ireland player, a trophy winner with Tottenham, a brilliant manager with Wimbledon and the Ireland boss that might have been.

First and foremost, Joseph Patrick Kinnear was a great football man. That’s how he’d like to be remembered.